donning gear offshore

[Starfish]

At a risk of people getting in to a discussion about certification agencies, which is NOT what I am looking for:

If you do not done your gear at waters edge and
you float your weight belt out on top of your BCD and tank to a position in which you are NOT standing on the bottom but floating,
which do you put on FIRST your BCD? or your weight belt?

If you put your weight belt on first, don’t you sink?
If you put on your BCD first what happens to your weight belt? Do you tether it to your BCD?

Yes, I have put my gear on at shore, yes taken it off and put it back on at depth (which was a struggle), but what about this scenario?

 

[Scottri]

I'm not sure I would even put myself in that position. If the weight belt dropped you wouldn't be able to go get it. But if I had to don my gear that way I would worry most about being bouyant at the surface and would put my BC on first and my weight belt second. That would make putting the belt on difficult.


Scott

 

[neil]

If you use such a method, make sure you thread your weight belt through your BC so you don't lose it. The problem is: who's gonna hold your belt while you don the BC. If you really have a problem donning at the water's edge (bad back, eg.) try using a float for your gear.

Neil

 

[dkerr]

I was always taught you put the weight belt on first. You should only be slightly negatively boyent at this point----weighting is checked with all your gear so that you float at eye level with BC fully deflated. Having no BC on should only make you slightly less boyant so a few gentle fin strokes should keep you above the surface. This is just how I learned

Stay wet...stay safe

 

[rcohn]

I use a tank weight and my weight belt is set roughly at my freediving weight (neutral at 15 to 20 ft). So it would be no problem, I float at the surface with my weight belt on.

Ralph

 

[ScubyDoo]

Where is your dive buddy during all of this? Why cant you hand him/her your weight belt, then don your BCD, and then have your weight belt handed back to you? After you are positively buoyant you can hold your buddies weight belt for him while he dons his BCD.

Im not an experienced diver, but I dont think I would ever put my weight belt on without a BCD. Rule #1 on the surface is to obtain positive buoyancy, and a weight belt w/o BCD would be very dangerous.

 

[Blargh]

ahh.. finally something us that gives us dry suit divers an edge

 

[Ontario Diver]

Me...

Weight belt

then BC

then step off of boat

Really tho, I've done remove and replace of belt on surface, and re/re of BC on surface - but never both on the surface. On the bottom yes, and then the weight belt goes on first.

My thought is that I'd walk out floating the gear until the water was up to my chest and then put the gear on, so I could then swim out. Or maybe that is a cop out to the question?

 

[dc4bs]

Not necessarily a cop-out, but...

I'm guessing the idea is to push/pull the gear beyond the surf-zone so you don't get beat up while doning it. That "usualy" means deeper than a person can stand easily.

I would't have thought of this as I was trained that you NEVER make a beach entry unless you have all gear, including fins, in place already. Though I have cheated a bit on the fins a few times as it's easier for me to put them on in the water...

 

[Starfish]

Your correct in that the idea is to get beyond a wave surge.

Seems I am not loopy to think that there doesn't seem to be a good way to manage this problem.

This came to mind when my dive buddy was considering the pros and cons to diving in some remote areas were you would not necessarily have you gear on when you hit the water, example:
Kayaking -- you have a platform to either tip off of or keep your gear floating.

Thanks for the shared thoughts. --Starfish